Fragment from base of bowl

Object Details

• Description

  Shape: This shard consists of the footring and mirror of a bowl. Wheel-thrown.

  Clay: The stoneware body is gray internally and has burned red where it was exposed to the kiln atmosphere. The bottom of the base has a scar of a tubular firing support. The gray stoneware body is very fine-grained with a low proportion of fine black inclusions. One fracture line reveals a large air pocket which may have caused the body to break. Other, smaller air pockets are also observed.

  Glaze: Pale celadon glaze over underglaze iron-black decoration.

  Decoration: The underglaze decoration of the bowl is painted on a light gray slip and is of a conch shell overlaid on a background of cross-hatched lines surrounded by concentric circles. These circles appear to have been painted by moving a semi-stationary brush outward while the bowl revolved on the wheel. The conch shell against a cross-hatched background motif appears to have been modelled on Chinese prototypes. The outside of the footring also has an iron-black ring painted around it and is only partially covered by the pale celadon glaze. The combination of the gray slip and an almost clear celadon glaze produced a black-on-gray color scheme for the finished bowl.

• Provenance

  To 1956

  Charles Nelson Spinks (1906-1980), collected in Ban Pa Yang kilns, Si Satchanalai (Sawankhalok), Thailand. [1]

  From 1956

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Nelson Spinks. [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Study Collection catalogue card, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Nelson Spinks (1906-1980)

• Origin

  Ban Pa Yang kilns, Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai province, Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Nelson Spinks

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1300s

• Name

  Spinks, Charles Nelson

• Place

  Ban Pa Yang kilns, Sukhothai province, Si Satchanalai, Thailand

• Topic

  Art, Ayutthaya period (1351 - 1767), Stoneware, Southeast Asian Art, Ceramics, Sawankhalok ware

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)